Expert looks at Palestine's options after Gaza
Dr. Mitchell Bard, author of 18 books on the conflict
in the Middle East, speaks about democratic policies
BY EMILY SMITH
NEWS REPORTER
Dr. Mitchell G. Bard said when he
was in Israel in August he didn’t walk
into the civil war that the media had
been portraying.
Bard, author and leading authority
on U.S.-Middle East policy, gave a
lecture on campus Hiesday evening
to more than 70 people about the
facts and myths surrounding the dis
sonance between Palestine and Is
rael. His most recent book, “1001
Facts Everyone Should Know About
Israel,” came out last week.
There was no civil war, he said,
referring to the disengagement of
Gaza as a triumph in democracy. He
said he saw the results of democrat
ically elected leaders in Israel mak
ing the decision to disengage from
the Gaza Strip, a decision that was
supported by the majority of the
population. He spoke about what
the next step might be to bring
peace between the two countries.
Now that Israel no longer occu
pies the Gaza Strip, there is nothing
stopping the Palestinians from mov
ing in and creating a state in that
area where they could control their
own affairs and institute democratic
policies, but “all they’ve been able
to produce is chaos,” Bard said.
The level of corruption in the
Palestinian government has been a
problem, Bard said, especially in the
last 10 years. The International Mon
etary Fund discovered that out of the
$5.5 billion in foreign aid given to
Palestine, Yasser Arafat stole $1 bil
lion, Bard said.
Palestinians can no longer work
in Israel because Israel no longer al
lows them in the country because of
concerns about possible terrorist at
tacks, he said.
Bard continued by saying that
women don’t have rights in Palestine
like they do in Israel, and citizens
don’t have the same freedoms of
speech or assembly.
According to a number of polls
taken in Palestine, when asked what
country Palestinians admire most,
they answer “Israel,” Bard said.
“And what can they do?” he asked.
Bard said one option is to destroy
Israel, and some Palestinians have
made it no secret that that is their
goal, but they have recognized
that they can’t accomplish it. They
have tried to get other Arab leaders
to do it for them, but they refuse,
he said.
Another option is to do nothing, he
said. If Palestinians wait instead of
compromising and settling “for a
crummy piece of land that the Israelis
want to offer them in the West Bank
and the Gaza Strip” they will get “the
whole thing,” Bard said.
From Israel’s perspective, he said,
Palestine is made up of radical Islam
ic groups that want to destroy Israel.
The Jewish Student Union in
conjunction with Oregon Hillel
brought Bard to University as the
first part of a series of events fo
cused on ending the conflict plagu
ing the Middle East. JSU Director
Jonathan Rosenberg said his union
is honoring Israel’s former Prime
Minister Yitzhak Rabin during the
month of November. The Nobel
Peace Prize winner was assassinat
ed 10 years ago this Friday by a
right-wing Israeli.
“We don’t want to focus on who’s
right and who’s wrong,” Rosenberg
said. “We want to bring peace to the
Middle East.”
esmith@dailyemerald. com
ASUO creates model for student group stipends
The plan aims to regulate monetary compensation
for directors and coordinators of campus programs
BY NICHOLAS WILBUR
NEWS REPORTER
The ASUO has created a new
stipend model that provides incen
tive for service in student groups by
making higher-paid leadership posi
tions available, but uncertainty ex
pressed by the program leaders
themselves may table the vote in
tonight’s Senate meeting.
The ASUO Executive’s attempt to
prevent program leaders from working
significantly more hours than they’re
paid for has received criticism from the
leaders who are supposed to benefit
from the change. The current stipend
model is not meant to be an hourly
wage, but is instead intended to reim
burse the costs of supplies and other
expenses incurred by group leaders.
ASUO Finance Coordinator Nick
Hudson said the ASUO Executive,
when creating the new model,
looked at the hours leaders have to
put in to make a program or govern
ing body successful.
“The ASUO Executive values what
program directors do on an everyday
basis ... so we felt it was necessary to
solidify that belief that program direc
tors are important,” Hudson said.
He also said the Executive realized
that it would be “almost impossible”
for program leaders to find the time
to work other jobs while holding
their current positions.
The new model would not in
crease membership, but it would in
crease incentives for students to take
on leadership positions, Hudson said.
Programs Finance Committee
members said the group leaders
themselves hold mixed opinions
about the proposed stipend model.
Scott Lu, a member of the PFC,
which allocates student fees to pro
grams, said none of the current pro
gram leaders he has met with was
satisfied with the model.
The PFC as a whole remains un
certain regarding whether it should
endorse the model or create an alter
native one, said Jared Axelrod, PFC
Chairman and Student Senate
ombudsman.
Axelrod said he will take the con
cerns expressed during the PFC meet
ing Tuesday night and advise Sena
tors tonight to allow more time for
program leaders’ feedback, await ma
jority approval from group leaders,
and consider a different model.
“I think that most people want
something different; I think that’s
what most of the programs want and
I have a feeling that’s what most
(PFC members) want,” Axelrod said
at Tuesday night’s PFC meeting.
“We could recommend that the
IN BRIEF
Hospital settles class-action
claim by uninsured
PORTLAND — A settlement consid
ered the first of its kind nationally was
reached Thesday in a class-action law
suit against a major nonprofit hospital
by uninsured patients who say they
were overcharged.
The agreement with Providence
Hospital System will affect tens of
thousands of low-income Oregonians,
attorneys say.
“This is a historic agreement and it
will stick,” said Brian Campf, an attor
ney representing uninsured patients.
Greg Van Pelt, senior vice president
for Providence Health System, said the
hospital disagrees with many of the al
legations while sharing the concerns of
low-income patients.
But it was cheaper to settle for all
concerned, he said.
“Quite frankly the cost of litigation
is so great it was in the patients’ best
interest and the hospital’s to get this re
solved, and this seemed the best way
to do that,” Van Pelt said.
The lawsuit is part of a national
campaign headed by Richard Scrug
gs, a Mississippi attorney who helped
win multibillion-dollar settlements
with the tobacco industry in the
1990s to pay states for smoking-relat
ed health care costs.
Similar lawsuits have been filed
against hundreds of hospitals in at
least 27 states, alleging that tax-exempt
nonprofit hospitals charge higher
prices to uninsured patients than the
discounts given to insured patients.
“Other hospitals around the country
should take a hard look at this” settle
ment, said Sid Backstrom, spokesman
for the Scruggs law firm.
Van Pelt said it would help Provi
dence patients but the larger national
problem of caring for the poor still
must be addressed.
The complaint filed in Oregon al
leges that Providence contradicted its
stated mission of providing universal
access to health care, especially the
poor, by charging uninsured patients
much higher rates for the same servic
es than other patients.
—The Associated Press
Senate not approve the stipend mod
el... because a lot of programs have
problems with it,” Axelrod said.
PFC has until Nov. 9 to submit its
annual percent increase over last
year’s budget, so there is still time
to reconfigure the numbers and
classes before submitting a different
proposal to the Senate for approval,
he said.
Hudson said certain groups that
provide vital services need these new
stipends “in order to fully function
and in order to provide the service
that they do to students.”
ASUO President Adam Walsh
added that “the reason we have
student groups is to enhance the
physical and cultural development
of students.
“A lack of student groups is detri
mental to that cause,” he said.
The Executive took suggestions
and concerns expressed during two
stipend working groups and imple
mented changes to the model based
on those concerns, Hudson said.
The new model, Walsh said, also
takes into account University Presi
dent Dave Frohnmayer’s concern last
year that incidental fee-funded pro
grams have no regulated funding pat
tern for paid positions.
“Currently there is no rhyme or
reason why some groups get one di
rector and others get more,” Walsh
said. The new model will fix that
problem, he said.
The new model gives groups that
receive $15,000 or more in student
money funding for one director and
three program coordinators. Groups
that receive between $7,500 and
$14,999 get one director and two co
ordinators. Those that receive be
tween $1,000 and $7,499 get one
director and one coordinator. Those
that get $999 or less receive no fund
ed positions.
Walsh said the original PFC budget
increase was estimated at $60,000,
$500 less than last year’s benchmark.
With the new model, the bench
mark increase over last year’s PFC
budget would be either $34,725 or
$29,625, depending on whether the
EMU Board of Directors and Student
Senate decide to make KWVA, the
University’s student-run radio
station, an EMU-funded program in
stead of a PFC program.
Senate will vote to approve or deny
the Executive’s proposed stipend
model tonight at 7:30 p.m. in the
EMU Board Room.
Contact the campus and
federal politics reporter at
nwilbur@dailyemerald. com
609620
University Health Center
Unraveling from stress?
Join the circle for November
ms
Thursdays, November 3, 10 and 17
3:00-4:30pm
Health Resource Center in the EMU
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Knit for relaxation, for creativity,
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Knitting instruction
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